Mary Louise laughed.
"What a fine adventure that would be!" she exclaimed. "But we will promise to guard Alora and keep her from the clutches of bandits. I didn't know there were any left in Italy."
"To get rid of them you'd have to depopulate the country," said Jason Jones. "It is no laughing matter, young woman, and—my daughter is somewhat valuable."
[CHAPTER X]
MERE SPECULATION
The driver returned with the wheel. It fitted the axle but was some two or three inches larger in diameter than the other rear wheel and, moreover, it was flat on one side, so that when they started to conclude their journey the motion of the carriage was something startling—a "rock-a-bye baby ride" Mary Louise called it.
But the wheels turned and the carriage progressed and when they were well on their way the girl said:
"What do you think of that man, Gran'pa Jim?"
"Do you mean Alora's father, Jason Jones?"
"Yes, of course."
"I am surprised at two things," said the old Colonel. "First, it is curious that Tony Seaver, a rarely cultured woman, should have married such a man, and again it is amazing that she should have confided her daughter and her fortune to his care."